Defiant Iraqi lawmakers take break

July 31, 2007|By Stephen Farrell, the New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's parliament headed into a monthlong summer recess Monday, halting work despite calls from the United States and the Iraqi prime minister for lawmakers to shorten their break to push through important legislation.

The decision to take off the month of August almost surely eliminates hopes that the 275-member parliament will pass laws sought by American officials as evidence that the country is making progress toward stability.

The United States was hoping for movement on measures meant to reduce sectarian strife. One would divide revenue from Iraq's vast oil wealth equitably among the country's factions; another would promote reconciliation with Iraq's once-ruling Sunni minority by allowing some former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party back into senior jobs.

President Bush has been among those who have pressed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to ask lawmakers to take a shorter vacation, according to the president's aides. And critics of the Iraqi government have noted that while parliament is in recess, American and Iraqi troops will continue fighting and patrolling the streets despite the 120-degree summer temperatures.

However, Iraqi representatives defended the decision to take off until Sept. 4, saying they had already cut their scheduled two-month summer break in half and extended their work weeks from three to six days.

Their scheduled return is less than two weeks before Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, are to submit a report on benchmarks set by Congress to measure Iraq's political progress. There is widespread pessimism that feuding Iraqi politicians will thrash out such complex issues before the report to Congress, which is considered crucial to maintaining support for the war.